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This section of Mixonline, "The Wire", contains original press releases issued by various companies and industry organizations. The releases are not reviewed or edited by the editorial staff of Mixonline. For information and access, forward your name and email address to

Feb152017

Focusrite RedNet Components Help the Christian House of Prayer, Near Fort Hood, TX, Transition to Digital Live Sound

As a critical step prior to replacing the entire live sound system at its main worship location, the Christian House of Prayer decided to implement RedNet networking components that will form a firm foundation for a new PA system to be installed in the near future

Los Angeles, CA – Located right outside Fort Hood, Texas — the largest military installation in the free world — the Christian House of Prayer was founded in 1980, and from its main location in Killeen and a satellite location in Copperas Cove serves a ministry that reaches across the country and into Europe. As the need to improve the sound at the main sanctuary increased, Chris McKinney, the church’s Head Audio Engineer and Production Manager, began researching the best way to go about modernizing the system there. His inquiries led him to the Focusrite RedNet suite of Dante™-networked audio converters and interfaces, which he recognized as the perfect bridge from the church’s existing analog sound system to the Danley® PA system they intend to install later in 2017.

Supplied by Sound Productions of Irving, TX, a system comprising the following RedNet components provided the perfect basis for the larger transition to a more advanced sound system: 11 RedNet MP8R 8-channel remote-controlled microphone preamplifiers and A/D, and a pair of RedNet HD32R 32-channel Pro Tools Bridges, linking with the Pro Tools HD recording system located in the church’s broadcast control room.

“We knew we needed to transition to a more contemporary and more digital sound system in the future, so I looked into the available technologies and products,” McKinney recalls. “Looking at the features that RedNet offered, including the Dante connectivity and the amazing mic preamps, it was clear pretty quickly that RedNet was the key to our sound system’s future.”

The 11 RedNet MP8R’s are located in a rack in the Killeen location’s choir area and are connected to the Soundcraft® Vi Series consoles used at FOH, monitors and broadcast positions by two strands of Cat-6 cabling. Underscoring both RedNet’s efficiency and its reliability, McKinney points out that only a single run of Cat-6 is necessary, with the second run used solely as a back-up. To confirm that, he disconnected one of the cables during a test and the other took over the signal transport seamlessly, without dropping a note or a word. “We had 128 analog copper cables before RedNet; now, we have two Cat-6 cables, and we only really need one of them,” he says. “That really shows you the scale of the transformation that we’ve been able to accomplish just with RedNet.” And the two RedNet HD32R interfaces enable them to connect the stage outputs directly to the multitrack recording system, bypassing the consoles and directly feeding Pro Tools, which McKinney says provides a pristine signal that makes recordings clearer and editing easier. “Once the new sound system is installed next year, RedNet will have already provided us with the foundation for a digital signal transport that will make the new sound system perform even better,” he says. “RedNet makes a big difference.”

Photo caption: Chris McKinney, the Head Audio Engineer and Production Manager at Christian House of Prayer (CHOP) near Fort Hood, Texas, pictured with several of the church’s Focusrite RedNet units.